Top 10: Sports Brawls

Number 2

Canada vs. Soviet Union - World Junior Hockey Championships

January 5, 1987

Historically, Canada’s response to being threatened by the Soviets’ hockey skills has been to pummel the Soviets into submission. It started in the 1972 Summit Series when an angry Bobby Clarke delivered a two-handed chop to Soviet star Valery Kharlamov’s ankle, and continued when Clarke’s Philadelphia Flyers abused the Soviets off the ice mid-game during a 1976 exhibition match.

Canada had made a habit of using physical intimidation to its advantage when facing the Red Army. By the 1987 World Junior Hockey Championships, the Soviets had reached their limit. Late in the game, a Soviet player was dumped in front of the Canadian net and both teams went at it. Pretty soon, both benches were clear — not a single helmet or glove was on and battles were waged at all corners of the ice. The officials’ attempts at restoring order were so futile that they decided to shut the lights off in the arena, but both sides kept fighting.

Aftermath: The game was cancelled, and both teams were ejected from the tournament.

Number 1

Chicago White Sox vs. Umpire George Moriarty

May 30, 1932

After dropping both ends of a doubleheader to the Indians, a frustrated White Sox team accused Moriarty of favoring the Indians. Moriarty took offense to this and challenged the entire Chicago side to a fight. White Sox pitcher Milt Gaston stepped up and was promptly knocked out in one punch. Seeing that Moriarty had broken his hand on Gaston’s face, Sox manager Lew Fonseca and several Sox players jumped him, with fellow umpire Bill Dinneen breaking things up.

Aftermath: Moriarty said to Dinneen: “You stay out of this, Bill. This is my fight. Now who else is there who thinks I’m yellow?” None of the White Sox answered the bell and nobody questioned Moriarty’s umpiring integrity again.

get ‘em up

Let’s face it: Fans love a good fight. The preceding 10 incidents were both revolting and utterly gripping enough to find a place in sports legend as the most infamous battles to ever take place in the sporting arena. Any rational sports fan must dearly hope that this list never gets amended by the inclusion of a future brawl, but will also be fascinated enough to watch the highlights over and over again.